Thursday 17 February 2011

TC Carlos - an update

Today was mostly dry, although more rain, albeit not as heavy, tonight, as the now ex cyclone has moved to the SW away from Darwin. The sun even peeped out and that was good for the solar hot water system!

But the fat lady has not sung and it ain't over yet.......

Lots more rain now, in areas S of Darwin and tonight Adelaide River township has flooded, and residents near the Darwin River Dam look likely to have some inundation as the spillway of the dam has overflowed, and that could continue for days yet.

This now tropical low [ ex tropical cyclone Carlos] should bring heavy rain to the areas in the 70 - 150km south of Darwin and across to the west into the Victoria River region. Forecast maps show it crossing back over the sea and re-intensifying, although continuing to move west.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

RAIN - A Lot of It!

I am composing this late in the evening of February 16. On a pretty wild and blustery evening, with Tropical Cyclone Carlos hovering around Darwin - moving a little, but not often, and delivering a lot of rain.

In the 24 hours to 0900 today, rainfall around Darwin was mostly in the 250 - 380mm range with tops being 435mm. Our rain gauge certainly overflowed several times........and I have used the 435mm as our rainfall, as the site with this recording and ours, are usually very similar on a daily basis. Most areas close to the ocean front - and that is us, received much more rain than the official recording site of the Met Bureau at the airport, which had 340mm of rain recorded.

That is a LOT of rain.........and since then, about another 150mm has fallen today so far. Might exceed 200mm by 0900 tomorrow, the official "time to record". And more of the same is expected tomorrow too........

Biblical rain.......anyone for a new ark???

The creek below our street flooded across the road and into some houses at both high tides today, and last night there was mayhem with quite a few cars washed across the road, and a driver left hanging onto the traffic lights to stop being washed away. The airport has been closed since yesterday - wind too strong for aircraft operations, and may not re-open before Friday or Saturday.

And yes, it was a new alltime daily rain total for Darwin.......officially.... at the Met Bureau site at the airport, even though a bit less than our area.

The past 36 hours has seen wild wind around Darwin, although maximum gusts have only been around 100km/hr, about normal for a Category 1 cyclone. But it has just continued incessantly over that long period. Usually, it all over in 6 - 12 hours........but more is still to come. Wind has eased a little this evening, although it seems to have intensified a little in the past hour. But with Cyclone Carlos hanging around and doing loops around Darwin I guess we will get more wind than a normal "passing through" cyclone.

Lots of fallen trees, a few submerged cars, many roads impassable due to trees down as well as rain, swollen creeks and drains.

One fantastic point - and thank you NT Government - has been continuing electricity supply in our area, an area recently converted to underground electricity power, which the NT Government funded. Some areas around Darwin with overhead supply have been without power since last night, and might be so for a few days yet. Mainly due to wires damaged from falling trees.

Still more to come.......

Friday 11 February 2011

The Frequent Flyer Lounge - Pigs at the Trough??

An Airport Frequent Flyer Lounge - Pigs at the Trough

There is a line from a famous Paul Kelly song that goes something like ---“have you ever seen Sydney from a 747 at night” which goes on to evoke great memories and images of travel, of airports, of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, of the Opera House and city lights.

Sydney Airport Qantas Club lounge is also quite memorable on a Friday night around 5 – 7 pm too, and does conjure up not the memories and images of those in a Paul Kelly song, but of pigs at a trough.


The lounge is very crowded as the punters, mostly corporate executives, business types, senior public servants and others for whom someone else is usually the fare payer, head out of Sydney after a hard week of toil. And it does show.......

Getting a drink - soft or hard -from the self service area or from a reasonably pleasant barman or placing a few nibbles on a plate from the food service area is a tricky business and involves running the gauntlet of a jostling horde. More like pigs at a trough of swill!

Most manners and civil gestures among the punters seem to disappear, a bit of argy-bargy to commander the last morsel of camembert cheese or salami on the plate [yet the supply does seem to reappear as if from a virtual endless supply] and scant manners seem to be shown to staff working in the service areas.

Where is civil society going? Is it “big city” syndrome, where people seem to have less and less time to engage in social intercourse, is it time challenged airline travellers, or are people just after a free feed which for most would hardly be a serious expense anyway?

The ideals of civility seem to have disappeared in the Qantas Lounge! It is just like pigs at the trough.

Quite disgusting really.

Monday 7 February 2011

Cyclone Humour

As always, there is some wag who can create a joke out of adversity. And we all seem to enjoy them too.

And I quote.......


WHAT DID CYCLONE YASI SAY TO THE COCONUT TREE?


go down further.......











HANG ON TO YOUR NUTS.....THIS IS NO ORDINARY BLOW JOB!!!

Friday 4 February 2011

Mayhem from Cyclone Yasi

I do not need say more........see the media coverage.

What a mess!!

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Cyclone Yasi IS coming to North Queensland

Cyclone Yasi is a monster cyclone, 800km across, and very well up there among the most intense ever in australia. Top of the list is Cyclone Monica of 2006 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Monica] with a low pressure of 917hpa or 879hpa [ depends how calculations are done] while Cyclone Mahina of 1899 caused the most loss of life, and reputably the greatest storm surge.

Cyclone Yasi is expected to be around 920 - 930hpa at landfall, thought to be around Cairns, during tomorrow night local time. This extreme intensity, and large size elicit one response.................GO GO GO.

Many people are doing just that right now.

Cyclones are nasty creatures, especially at this size and intensity, and not be to trifled with.
There will be [ probably] major damage to houses, infrastructure but hopefully not lives.

See more at http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/ [ this will only be current for a short period]